US Open: Players Call For Rule Change As Stefanos Tsitsipas Takes Long Bathroom Break
US Open: "Sometimes we need a short break to do what we have to do," said Stefanos Tsitsipas after the match.
Greek tennis player, Stefanos Tsitsipas took an eight-minute-long loo break during the US Open match against France’s Adrian Mannarino. Tsitsipas is being criticized and other tennis players are calling for a rule change. The greek was booed by the crowd after he returned on the turf.
"I haven’t done anything wrong, so I don’t understand," Tsitsipas told reporters when asked about the crowd’s reaction. The Greek tennis star is known for taking long bathroom breaks.
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"The people love the sport; they come to watch tennis. I have nothing against them. I love the fans. But some people don’t understand. That’s all. They don’t understand. They haven’t played tennis at a high level to understand how much effort and how much difficult it is to do what we are doing. Sometimes we need a short break to do what we have to do," said Tsitsipas as quoted by Fox News.
Andy Murray clearly unhappy with Stefanos Tsitsipas' extended toilet breaks! Lashes out at the supervisor#USOpen pic.twitter.com/24haG7r7g0
— Lakshya Chopra (@LakshyaNotLaksh) August 30, 2021
"When you’re playing a brutal match like that, you know, stopping for seven, eight minutes, you do cool down," said Tsitsipas.
Players Ask For Rule Change
"I think now that there is a lot of talk about it, people come into press, people tweet about it, maybe it will get a little bit more attention, that gamesmanship will kind of maybe turn and change a little bit," Former U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens said.